Police continue search for Joseph Gonzalez, suspect in arson of Rochelle St. home owned by Springfield firefighter Martin Burgos

Greg Saulmon / The Republican11.15.2010 | SPRINGFIELD - An upstairs hallway at 85 Rochelle Street. The home was destroyed in an arson fire Saturday morning.

SPRINGFIELD - As friends and neighbors of the victims of a weekend fire at 85 Rochelle St. sifted through charred rubble in search of the family’s valuables and keepsakes, police on Monday continued their search for the man suspected of firebombing the home.

Police have obtained a warrant for 28-year-old Joseph W. Gonzalez of Holyoke. Gonzalez, the former boyfriend of a woman who lives at the address with their one-year-old child, is charged with arson and nine counts of attempted murder.

Gonzalez had threatened to burn the house down during an argument with his former girlfriend about 45 minutes before the fire, Springfield police Det. David Chapin said on Sunday.

“He’s still on the loose,” Springfield police Sgt. John M. Delaney said shortly before noon on Monday.

Delaney noted that Springfield police had arrested Gonzalez in April in connection with a burglary on Yale St. in the city’s McKnight neighborhood. Gonzalez previously served a prison sentence for his role in the 1999 murder of an employee of the Ocean State Job Lot store in Holyoke.

Samantha Rauls, who lives across Rochelle St. and is a close friend of a woman who escaped the fire by climbing out of a second-floor window, was one of several people at the home Monday morning.

“Her brother-in-law saved her life, because she was the last one in the house while the fire was going,” Rauls said of Springfield firefighter Martin Burgos, who owns the home and was visiting his mother at the time of the fire. “Without him, she wouldn’t have made it out. That was her savior right there.”

As Rauls spoke, a man appeared in the burned-out frame of a first-floor bedroom window. He handed her a small plastic case wrapped in burgundy ribbon bearing the date July 25, 2009 in gold letters. Inside the case were a bride and groom perched on top of a votive candle.

“We’re trying to save all the little knick-knacks they had, like memories and everything,” Rauls said, setting the wedding favor on the hood of a car covered in shingles and other debris from the blaze.

Inside the home, a bird cage in the living room still held the remains of the family’s pet birds. The family’s four dogs were also among the fire’s victims.

On the porch, where Gonzalez allegedly set the fire, the frame of a wheelchair sat in an almost unrecognizable heap. Warped siding hung from the home next door.

Rauls said that in the wake of the fire several neighbors have offered help to the family through a variety of donations.

“They lost everything. That’s why we’re here, trying to see what we can find for them, what survived through the fire. Because they don’t have anything. Nothing at all,” Rauls said, adding: “They got real hurt by this.”

View full sizesubmitted photoJoseph W. Gonzalez

The suspect

Joseph W. Gonzalez, 28, has black hair and dark eyes. His last known address was 209 Pine St. in Holyoke. He is considered dangerous and should not be approached, Springfield police Det. David Chapin said.